Town of Cheverly
Meeting Minutes
August 9, 2012
Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 8:00 pm in the Cheverly Community Center.
In attendance: CMs Riazi, Coolen, Eldridge, Thorpe.
Pledge of Allegiance
- CM Coolen to excuse the Mayor from tonight’s meeting. CM Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously.
- CM Coolen to excuse CM Cook from tonight’s meeting. CM Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously.
Agenda/Approval/Changes
Addition of a Grant Request from CPRC.
Minutes – Town Meeting 7/12/12
CM Coolen noted an adjustment regarding Hula Hoops.
Minutes – Worksession 7/26/12
Approved as written.
Police Department Report
Town Administrator Report
Mr. Warrington reported that we have caught-up after the storm and we are in the process of replacing some of our equipment.
Vice Mayor are we watering some of our street trees?
Mr. Warrington yes we are using our rain barrels along the side of the building to water trees.
CM Riazi letters have gone out about trees that need removing after the storm. Can you give a timeline.
Mr. Warrington we have given them 30 days, but if they can not get a contractor we can give them additional time. I would note the new tenant in Hoyer and they will have a parking issue when they have a teacher’s meeting, but we will let the neighbors know and will work with them to avoid any issues.
Chief’s Report
Chief Robshaw noted that our crime rate is down 46% and it is the highest of any municipality. Usually in the summer months we average 30-40, but we are now averaging 12 per month. The newsletter this month will give details and encourage citizen input to continue this trend. Public Safety Day is September 20th form 5:30-8:00 and is sponsored by Three Brothers. We will have an insert in the Newsletter and we encourage you to attend.
Vice-Mayor about Public Safety Day will it have similar events?
Chief Robshaw yes we will still have horses and helicopters, but we will have some new items.
Committee Reports
Recreation Council Barbara Pejokovich announced the Fall Flea Market on October 13th. Reservations start in September and tables will be $15. The Women’s Club will have chicken salad and the bake table. We will have the Halloween and the Holiday Party and will always take volunteers. The second Thursday of September is the gym usage meeting.
Citizen Input
Mayor and Council Announcements
CM Coolen there was a stray dog three weeks ago that I have taken in and he is sick and there will be a three month recovery. With the help of many friends we have raised $550 for his care. We have a website to offer a name for the dog for $10 and the future owner can pick a name for him. The website for donations is www.namethatdoggie.com . Also, there is a Community Market this Saturday.
CM Riazi. There will be a table at the Community Market for donations of school supplies for Hoyer School.
Vice Mayor we should thank Republic Properties for their donation of $1,000 to the composting program. Please water your street trees and private property trees. Also, on August 11th the American Legion Post is hosting an all you can eat shrimp and beef roast. It will have lots of great events there and fun games and raffles. Public School starts on the 20th so please look out for them. For the Worksession agenda: Street Meeting by Ward, which is a ward by ward tree scapeing and loss of trees, Insurance Premium for the Community Market, Discussion of WSSC road cuts and a Discussion of traffic patterns on Belleview and Whiteboarding.
Pepco Smart Meters
Mr. Pasternak the Pepco Region Vice-President and with me is Marcus Beal who is the project manager for the smart meter program. We feel the customers will really see the benefits to help them save energy and money. The timing is perfect because we are 94% complete in installing smart meters in town.
Mr. Marcus Beal we are 94% complete in this sector. Pepco crews and Scope Services are doing the installations. The installers will knock on the door and let them know they are making the exchange. There will be a brief outage to pull the old meter and put the new one in. They will leave you a door hanger if you are not home. When we have 50,000 ready to go on line, then we will activate the meters and the “my account” will be available. It is similar to a meter reader giving you a meter reading every hour and customers can then see what they have used down to the hour. The goal is to educate people so they can make changes to their habits if they so choose. With this meter you will have less estimated bills. There are outage notification benefits as
the meters will send us a last gasp notice as though you called us. In addition we get a power up notice. We hope this will provide better customer service. This will allow us to ping the meter and we will be able to determine localized damage. We should go live in the end of September and you will be able to tell on your bill.
CM Coolen this is really exciting. If the power goes out and this is working should I still call in to report an outage? I would like to know approximately when my power will be back on?
Mr. Beal yes until we actually activate all the meters. The estimated time would be difficult, but we are working on applications to otherwise communicate.
CM Riazi what safeguards will be put in place to avoid making a customer defending that the do not have power?
Mr. Beal there is less certainty that a meter is off rather than if a meter is on. It would be very difficult for us to get a false positive. We still will have telephone calls and customer service representatives. The smart meters program is very different from the energy usage program. A lot of people are confused and it is a separate program that is voluntary. The smart meters are passive. There have not been any rate increases regarding out smart meter program. The Public Service Commission would have to grant permission for Pepco to recover any investment. Pepco did receive half the cost in a grant from the Department of Energy.
Vice-Mayor noted that outages will be a topic of discussion at a future meeting.
Ann Heady of 3022 Lake Avenue I heard that you are going to eliminate estimated bills, but how will we know that the first bills are accurate.
Mr. Beal our technicians have a hand held device that has a camera function and they snap a picture of your meter reading before the pull the old meter and replace it with the smart meter to ensure that the final meter reading is accurate.
Second Reading – O-3-12 Amending the Off Street Parking Section
Mr. Warrington this new or amended section of the Code will define a camping trailer as not being a passenger vehicle. This will clarify this question in this part of the Code. It will be up for adoption at the September Town Meeting.
Introduction – O-3-12 Amending the Referendum Section of the Charter
Mr. Warrington this Charter Amendment will change the requirements for the percentage of registered voter signatures needed to bring a statute back for reconsideration. This amendment will also preclude from referendum the Budget and Bond Issuance in order to protect the continuity of the operations of the Town. It will be up for adoption at the October Town Meeting.
Grant Request - CPRC
Chase O’Brien, Vice President – CPRC we have submitted a grant request, as was done last year by Ann Barsi, to purchase school supplies for students of Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School.
CM Riazi I believe last year we granted $100 and would like to know why the request is $250 this year?
Chase O’Brien this amount was suggested to her and there is a need. They would appreciate any consideration or amount the town can make available for the endeavor.
- CM Riazi to award a grant to the CPRC in the amount of $200 for the purchase of school supplies for Gladys Noon Spellman students. CM Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously.
Vice Mayor meeting adjourned.
Town of Cheverly
Summary of Action
August 9, 2012
- CM Coolen to excuse the Mayor from tonight’s meeting. CM Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously.
- CM Coolen to excuse CM Cook from tonight’s meeting. CM Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously
- CM Riazi to award a grant to the CPRC in the amount of $200 for the purchase of school supplies for Gladys Noon Spellman students. CM Thorpe seconded. Approved unanimously
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